In general, a disc reproducing apparatus in which one of disc-shaped recording media, such as replay-only optical discs, is taken out of a disc housing unit housing a large number of the optical discs, and the information signals, such as music signals, recorded on the optical disc, are reproduced, includes, in addition to the disc housing unit housing a large number of the optical discs, a disc transporting mechanism for selectively transporting a sole optical disc housed within the disc housing unit, and a reproducing unit for reproducing the information signals recorded on the optical disc transported by the disc transporting mechanism.
The reproducing unit of the disc reproducing apparatus includes a disc rotating mechanism holding the sole optical disc selected from the disc housing unit and an optical pickup unit movable along the radius of the optical disc rotated by the disc rotating mechanism for reproducing the information signals, such as music sound signals, recorded on the optical disc.
Further, the reproducing unit includes, in addition to the disc transporting mechanism for delivering the sole optical disc selected from a large number of the optical discs housed within the disc housing unit, to the disc table for loading and a clamp mechanism for clamping the optical disc thus transported by the disc transporting mechanism onto the disc table for rotation in unison with the disc table.
For selecting the optical disc reproduced by the reproducing unit, the disc housing unit housing a large number of the optical discs is moved for moving a desired optical disc to a position registering with the disc transporting mechanism and the optical disc is then taken out of the disc housing unit by the disc transporting mechanism. Alternatively, the disc housing unit is moved to a position registering with a desired optical disc housed in the disc housing unit and the optical disc is then taken out of the disc housing unit. The optical disc, positioned in register with the disc transporting mechanism, is transported by the disc transporting mechanism onto the disc rotating mechanism of the reproducing unit and loaded on the disc table constituting the disc rotating mechanism. The optical disc is then scanned by the optical pickup unit as the disc is rotated by the disc rotating mechanism for reproducing the recorded information signals.
For selecting one of a large number of the optical discs housed within the disc housing unit, serial numbers are accorded to disc holding sections each containing and holding an optical disc. This serial number is defined as being the number of the optical disc contained and held in each disc holding section and designated for specifying the optical disc contained and held within the disc holding section. That is, with the disc reproducing apparatus having a disc housing unit capable of housing a large number of optical discs, the serial number affixed to each disc holding section of the disc housing unit is specified for specifying the optical disc contained in the disc housing section and the optical disc thus specified is transported by the disc transporting mechanism to the disc reproducing unit for reproduction by the disc reproducing unit.
For reproducing the optical disc by the disc reproducing unit, the number input key, such as a ten-key, provided on an operating panel, is actuated for entering a desired disc number for reproducing the optical disc corresponding to the entered disc number.
If the optical discs are housed within all of the disc holding sections in the disc housing unit, the numbers corresponding to the desired disc holding sections may be designated within a predetermined range for reproducing one or more optical discs corresponding to the designated numbers. However, with a disc housing unit capable of housing a large number of optical discs, there may be occasions wherein the optical discs are not housed within all of the disc holding sections. For example, some of the disc holding sections remain empty because they do not house optical discs therein. In such case, for supervising the optical discs, it is necessary for the user to become aware of which disc holding sections are devoid of optical discs, that is, which of the disc numbers are invalid. It is also necessary for the user to be apprised of the fact that the disc number now entered corresponds to the disc holding section presently devoid of the optical disc.
Thus the optical disc reproducing apparatus of this type is so arranged and constructed that a detection sensor is provided at a portion of each disc holding section of the disc housing unit and the possible presence of the optical disc is detected based upon a detection signal from the detection sensor in order to check whether the disc number corresponding to each disc housing section remains effective.
However, with the above-described conventional disc reproducing apparatus, since there are provided a number of the detection sensors corresponding to the number of the disc holding sections housing the optical discs therein, it becomes necessary to provide a space within which electrical wiring for interconnecting the detection sensors is accommodated in order to permit detection signals to be output from the respective detection sensors. There is also raised a problem that a detection display circuit for detecting the possible presence of the optical discs in the disc housing sections and specifying the disc numbers corresponding to the empty housing section in order to apprise the user of such state becomes complicated in construction.
For example, with the disc reproducing apparatus having a disc housing unit capable of accommodating as many as 50 or more optical discs, the space for accommodating the electrical wiring drawn out from the detection sensors becomes bulky, while the detection circuit becomes complex in construction in proportion to the number of detection sensors, leading to an extremely large size of the reproducing apparatus per se.
With the disc reproducing apparatus in which a light reflecting or light transmitting type sensor is used as a detection sensor for detecting the optical disc housed within each disc housing section of the disc housing unit, and the optical disc is directly sensed by such sensor for determining the presence or absence of the optical disc, there is produced an error in the disc detection accuracy due to fluctuations in the surface states or transparency of the optical disc, with the result that the presence or absence of the optical disc cannot be detected accurately.
On the other hand, with the disc reproducing apparatus having a disc exchange function in which the optical discs are selectively taken out one by one from the disc housing unit accommodating a large number of the optical discs and the optical discs thus taken out are transported by a disc transporting mechanism to the disc reproducing unit and loaded on a disc rotational driving mechanism constituting the disc reproducing unit, the disc reproducing unit is supported via a supporting mechanism within a main body of the apparatus housing the disc housing unit therein. If an impact is applied to the disc reproducing unit supported via the supporting mechanism within the main body of the apparatus, the information signal cannot be stably reproduced under vibrations resulting from such impact. Above all, with the reproducing apparatus of the type employing an optical pickup reading out the information signals recorded on the optical disc in a contact-free manner with respect to the optical disc, it may be feared that, if vibrations are exerted to the reproducing unit during reproduction, the recording tracks formed on the optical disc cannot be scanned by the optical pickup with the result that reproduction of the information signals becomes impractical. Thus there is employed a disc reproducing apparatus in which the disc reproducing unit is resiliently supported by the main body of the apparatus by an interposed floating unit. With the use of the interposed floating unit, the optical pickup constituting the disc reproducing unit or the disc rotating driving mechanism may be safeguarded against harmful vibrations, thus assuring stable reproduction of the optical disc.
However, since the floating unit is adapted for flexibly supporting the main body of the apparatus via elastic members, such as rubber members or springs, the disc rotating driving unit, thus supported by the floating unit becomes extremely labile in relative positioning accuracy with respect to the optical disc supported via the floating unit. Above all, since a supporting member supporting the disc reproducing unit comprising an optical pickup and a disc rotating driving unit built into a chassis is wobbled and deviated in its position by the floating unit, it becomes extremely difficult to provide for centering for engaging a centering member provided at a rotational center of the disc table in a centering hole of the optical disc delivered to the disc loading position of the disc reproducing unit.
If, with the disc reproducing apparatus having the disc exchange function in which a sole optical disc is taken out by a disc take-out unit from a disc housing unit housing a large number of optical discs therein and the optical disc thus taken out is loaded on a disc table of the disc rotating driving unit for reproducing information signals from the thus loaded optical disc, the optical disc cannot be loaded reliably, it becomes impossible to run the optical disc in rotation in stability for accurately reproducing the information signals.
With the disc reproducing apparatus having the disc exchange function in which the optical discs are selectively taken out one by one from the disc housing unit housing a large number of optical discs therein and the optical disc thus taken out is transported by a disc transporting mechanism to the disc reproducing unit and loaded on the disc rotating and driving unit constituting the disc reproducing unit for reproducing information signals, such as music signals, serial numbers are accorded to the disc housing sections provided in the disc housing unit for housing the individual discs for specifying the optical discs accommodated in the disc housing sections by these serial numbers. For selecting a desired one of a large number of optical discs housed within the disc housing unit for reproduction, a number entering key, such as a ten-key, provided on an operating panel of the main body of the apparatus is actuated for entering a desired disc number for reproducing the optical disc contained in the disc housing section bearing the entered disc number.
There is also known a disc reproducing apparatus in which the letter display information, such as a title, corresponding to the disc number, is registered in a memory, using a letter key or the like, and the disc number is entered for reproduction, whereby the disc number and the letter display information corresponding to the disc number are displayed on a display for improving convenience of the disc reproducing apparatus.
However, with such disc reproducing apparatus, since number keys, such as ten-keys, are used in selecting a desired one of a large number of the optical discs, there is raised the following problem in registering letter display data corresponding to the disc numbers. That is, for registering the letter display information by entering disc numbers and subsequently entering the letter display information corresponding to the entered disc number using a letter key or the like, it is necessary to activate a number key corresponding to the entered disc number. If the disc housing unit is capable of housing a large number of the optical discs, it is necessary to select ten-keys a plurality of times, with an significantly increased number of operating steps.
Further, since a toggle operation is performed using a particular operating key for retrieving a disc number, the retrieving operation becomes complex if there are a large number of registered disc numbers.
With the disc reproducing apparatus having the disc exchange function, in which a large number of the optical discs are reproduced sequentially, the optical disc to be reproduced is automatically selected by a selecting mechanism provided within the reproducing apparatus for reproducing the selected optical disc, without the user directly handling the optical discs. With such disc reproducing apparatus, the disc number displayed on a display panel is solely the disc number corresponding to the optical disc currently reproduced, while it is not possible to recognize the optical disc which is to be reproduced next. Thus, in order to recognize the optical disc to be reproduced subsequently, it is necessary to check for the sequence by a key operation, which is a great inconvenience.
In addition, when a number of desired music selections are selected from one or more optical discs in order to form a group of music selections, desired discs are selected using operating keys, such as ten-keys, by way of programming, and the desired music selections are selected from the selected optical discs. Consequently, it is necessary to provide operating keys for selecting optical discs and desired musice selections from the selected optical discs, while laborious operations are involved in selecting the discs and the music selections.
The above-mentioned program needs to be reset for the next reproduction after the end of the reproduction of the previously set of music selections by a laborious setting operation.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a recording and/or reproducing apparatus for disc-shaped recording media in which disc-shaped recording medium are selectively and sequentially taken out from a housing unit singly from a housing unit housing a large number of disc-shaped recording media, such as optical discs or magneto-optical discs, and in which the information signals, such as music signals, are recorded on or reproduced from the thus taken out disc-shaped recording medium.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording and/or reproducing apparatus for a disc-shaped recording medium in which a large number of disc-shaped recording media are efficiently housed and in which desired ones of these recording medium are accurately selected and reliably loaded in a recording and/or reproducing unit.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording and/or reproducing apparatus for a disc-shaped recording medium in which the transporting distance for the disc-shaped recording medium from the housing unit up to the recording and/or reproducing unit is diminished to enable prompt exchange of the disc-shaped recording medium.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording and/or reproducing apparatus for a disc-shaped recording medium in which the recording and/or reproducing unit for the disc-shaped recording media having a housing unit capable of housing a large number of disc-shaped recording media may be diminished in size and in which a determination of whether or not a disc-shaped recording medium is housed and held within the holding section for the recording medium provided in the housing unit can be accurately detected by a simplified detection mechanism.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a recording and/or reproducing apparatus for a disc-shaped recording medium in which a determination of whether the disc-shaped recording medium is present may be accurately made without being affected by the surface state or transparency of the detected disc-shaped recording medium.
The present invention is proposed in view of the above-described status of the prior art, and has as an object to provide a recording and/or reproducing apparatus in which the relative position of the disc-shaped recording medium may be accurately set relative to the rotating driving mechanism for the recording medium or the recording and/or reproducing mechanism such as an optical pickup to realize stable loading of the disc-shaped recording medium on the rotating driving mechanism for the disc-shaped recording medium to render it possible to record and/or reproduce information signals accurately on or from the disc-shaped recording medium.
The present invention also has as an object to provide a recording and/or reproducing apparatus in which disc-shaped recording media are selectively and sequentially taken out singly from a housing unit housing a large number of disc-shaped recording media, such as optical discs or magneto-optical discs, in which the disc-shaped recording media thus taken out may be loaded reliably and with correct positioning on the loading unit of the rotating and driving mechanism and in which the information signals may be recorded and/or reproduced on or from the thus loaded disc-shaped recording medium.
The present invention also has as an object to provide a recording and/or reproducing apparatus in which, during the operation of recording and/or reproducing the information signals on or from the disc-shaped recording medium, the information signals may be recorded and/or reproduced on or from the recording medium without being affected by external vibrations.
The present invention also has as an object to provide a recording and/or reproducing apparatus in which music selections recorded on a large number of the disc-shaped recording media contained in the housing unit are classed into desired groups and the music selections may be reproduced on the group basis and in which operating keys for classing the music selections into groups and reproducing the music selections on the group basis are simplified in structure in order to reduce the size of the operating panel.
The present invention also has as an object to provide a recording and/or reproducing apparatus in which a group of music selections, once set, need not be reset for the next replay and in which the music selection to be reproduced next may be known in addition to the musical selection being reproduced.